Create Windows Terminal Roaming Profile
Windows Terminal is awesome to use and has many usecases. But having multiple Windows devices to work on and copying your configuration manually is time consuming and annoying. Looking for a "roaming" solution that automates this and syncs the configuration/folders accross my Windows devices, I found "mklink" to be a perfect solution. Mklink creates a symbolic link between the Link and the Target folder. Background information
Prerequisites
- Have Windows Terminal installed, but not opened.
- Have a Cloud Storage (For example OneDrive, Nextcloud etc) account that has;
- A client installed on your Windows device
- A physical folder on your storage drive and actively syncs with the cloud
Configuration
Run CMD as administrator
Create Symbolic link for Roaming State
Move the Roaming State folder to your Cloud connected location.
- For OneDrive this would be: C:\Users<username>\OneDrive\path\to\Moved Roaming State
Important: The Roaming State folder must not be left in the original directory. Mklink creates a new symbolic folder, and can't when the folder exits.
Roaming State can be found at: (folder location to save your Windows Terminal icons and backgrounds for example)
%LOCALAPPDATA%\packages\Microsoft.WindowsTerminal_8wekyb3d8bbwe
Windows Key + R and paste the path above
Copy two paths:
- Copy full path to Roaming State from the File Explorer address bar
- Copy full path to your newly created Cloud connected folder
On CMD:
mklink /d "path/to/Roaming State" "path/to/Cloud connected/Roaming State"
Example:
mklink /d "C:\Users<username>\AppData\Local\packages\Microsoft.WindowsTerminal_8wekyb3d8bbwe\RoamingState" "C:\Users<username>\OneDrive\Roaming Windows Terminal\RoamingState"
Create Symbolic link for Settings.json
Move the Settings.json file in the Local State folder to your Cloud connected folder.
- For OneDrive this would be: C:\Users<username>\OneDrive\path\to\Local State\settings.json
Important: Don't have Windows Terminal opened, otherwise it will generate a new settings.json file. Mklink creates a new symbolic file, and can't when the file exits.
Local State can be found at: (folder location where your Windows Terminal settings.json can be found)
%LOCALAPPDATA%\packages\Microsoft.WindowsTerminal_8wekyb3d8bbwe\LocalState
Windows Key + R and paste the path above
Copy two paths:
- Copy full path to Local State from the File Explorer address bar
- Copy full path + settings.json to your newly created Cloud connected folder
On CMD:
mklink /h "/path/to/Local State/settings.json" "path/to/Cloud connected/settings.json"
Example:
mklink /h "C:\Users<username>\AppData\Local\packages\Microsoft.WindowsTerminal_8wekyb3d8bbwe\LocalState\settings.json" "C:\Users<username>\OneDrive\Roaming Windows Terminal\Local State\settings.json"
Symbolic link usage\documentation
MKLINK [[/D] | [/H] Link Target
/h = Symbolic link for files
/d = Symblic link for directories
On your other Windows devices
Follow the steps listed above. But instead of moving the Roaming and Locale State folders, you remove them.
Mklink will create the settings.json file and Roaming State folder for you.
Summary
- You have created a link between the Windows Terminal settings.json file and Roaming State folder to the cloud synced one
- When you click on the Symbolic folder you will be redirected to the Cloud connected location.
- All your Windows Terminals that are connected to your Cloud Storage location, configured as described above, will now be synchronized.